New Beginnings
by Savagehunger47
Summary: Riki and Katze become pregnant by their Eilte partners. OneShot. Completed. B/L, Mpreg. Iason/Riki, Raoul/Katze


Don't own AnK, and don't make any money from this either :3

**Rated M for mature language.**

_**Author's note:**__ Story takes place three years after Dana Bahn. Riki and Iason are saved and 'reattached' from the wreckage. Guy is still alive and running around in the slums (for those who read FC this story does not have any of my OCs in it, and nothing of the FC plot). Katze was put back together *wink, wink* and has already been paired up with Raoul Am. _

_This story is for everyone that wanted an Mpreg, but mostly this is for Shihshi :)_

_Special thanks to Angel in getting the ball rolling by suggesting how Riki and Katze could become knocked up by going on the 'pill'. Thanks hon:)_

_Also, please forgive the many, many errors you will undoubtedly find along the way. I only proof read up to the tenth page….and even in those pages there probably will have errors ;q I do plan on going back to correct it, but since I hate doing it, it will be a long while before it'll be done._

_Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoy :) _

_**New Beginnings**_

With a satisfied exhale, Raoul Am, the leading Blondie of the Bio Engineering Department, smiled as he looked at the experimental drug he had been working on.

"From the look on your face I can only assume that you have finally completed the drug?"

Looking up Raoul smiled at Iason Mink, the golden child of Jupiter their creator and also their Tanagura Syndicate Leader, and nodded, "Not just completed but _successfully_. Animal tryouts on female rats as well on larger mammals have shown to be one hundred percent in all administrations of the drug to otherwise infertile creatures. Maybe in the next month or so I will begin human testing on selected pure bred pets."

"You do realize that this is not new, do you not? We have dozens of drugs that help infertile females," Iason replied.

"Yes, of course, but my drug on the other hand has the ability to create an ovum, without the need of ovaries. It is also so sophisticated that if the female subject had a hysterectomy it will build a working, fully functional, uterus to carry the embryo and fetus. The only thing that needs to be added is the sperm donor through artificial insemination or by natural means of breeding a stud to said female." Raoul looked down at the drug with pride.

Raoul held up a pink capsule. "This little pill right here was a challenge that I greatly enjoyed taking on. It's a shame that it has come to an end. Besides the animal and human testing there is nothing left to do but move on to the next battle."

Iason chuckled as he took the pill from his Blondie comrade. "This is a great accomplishment, my friend, and a good excuse as to why you missed our appointed meeting to discuss the funding for your department."

Raoul took the drug from Iason, turning away from the amused ice blue glance of Iason to put it with the rest of the capsules on his table. "Was that tonight? Forgive me, it slipped my mind."

"Nothing slips our minds Raoul," Iason replied dryly. "Your relationship with Katze, my ex-Furniture and now Overseer of Amoi's Black Market, is rubbing off on you in a bad way."

"And your infatuation with Riki has not done the same with you?" Raoul drolly inquired. It was true that Raoul had learned many things from Katze, the extremely lovely ex-Furniture Raoul had taken upon himself to claim for himself when he and the golden eyed young man had spent a considerable amount of time together, when he needed his assistance on a few 'sensitive' items that one could not get through legal means.

Eight months now he and Katze have been together, and while it had been an extremely rocky first two months when he had demanded quite forcefully that the red-head live with him in his apartment in Eos, everything was now…wonderful…Surprisingly incredible.

To feel a warm body in his arms and in his bed when he went to sleep at night and woke up in the morning….it was staggering the wealth of emotions that filled him…

Not to mention taking that slim pale body, dominating Katze and impaling him with the part of his body he had never used in a sexual way made up for the un-pleasantries he received from his Elite brethren. To think that he lectured Iason about Riki, Raoul could only chide himself and the lack of knowledge he had back then but at least he knew now.

"You're mistaken Raoul. Riki has only enhanced and stimulated me, what you, or anyone else thinks, I have always been this way, the only difference is that I'm not hiding it any longer," Iason smiled, lifting a pale blonde, perfect, brow as if daring Raoul to argue with him.

Raoul loved a debate but passed at the opening Iason gave him. The truth was that while the powerful Syndicate leader said that he wasn't hiding anything of himself any longer, Raoul could see very clearly that Iason was, and probably always would be, an abyss of hidden secrets. The craftiness and deviousness that Iason expressed on a daily basis….The art in which Iason used against their foes, it was little wonder that Jupiter did nothing when the fierce Blondie took a mangy dirty mongrel as a pet and beyond scandalously kept said wild animal as his sex partner for seven years.

There was no one that could replace Iason Mink and Jupiter knew that…but why she allowed him to keep Katze? Raoul was still trying to figure that out.

"Oh! F-forgive me S-Sir Am!"

Raoul and Iason glanced dispassionately at the Midasan lab tech that bumped into the table they were at, spilling Raoul's fertile miracle drug across the table as well as whatever capsules the sad little human had been carrying.

"Sorry! I was in a rush to give you the supplements that you asked for before you left and-"

To Raoul's amusement Iason's soft sigh silenced the tech and with just a flicker, a blink, of those glacier blue eyes the young man, with trembling hands gathered the pills the fool dropped and his drug and scooped them up, putting them in the marked bottles that were on the stainless steel, chemical resistant, lab table.

"If you are finished here Raoul let us go back to my apartment. Riki is currently entertaining himself with Katze, but leaving him alone with your 'pet' is never a good idea. I've found that with Riki's remarkably clever mind and Katze's intellect is a bad combination." Iason gave the lab tech on last look down before turning to leave.

Raoul gave a chuckle at Iason's unknowing beckoning commanding tilt of his head, for him to follow him, as he took the bottle of pills he planned on forcing his nearly stoic red-head to swallow once he saw him.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

"So what do you think?" Riki quietly asked his ex Black Market boss as they stood at the railing looking at the glittering lights of Midas, smoking.

"I think you need to stop with these insane plans of yours before Iason finds out about them," Katze replied but smiled to soften his rejection of Riki's idea.

Eight months ago he had been _slightly_ clueless of Riki's and Iason's relationship with one another. The flow of information he had personally gotten from Iason had abruptly ended the moment that he had accentually 'sold' Riki to his boss, and still Blondie Master. But the rumors had reached his ears of Iason's strange behavior with Riki and the oddity of the lack of, or no, sexual pet performances Iason paired the unique, pure black haired mongrel with…but the evidence that Riki was having sex with someone…it wasn't hard to realize what was going on.

Katze exhaled a cloud of smoke and gave a sad little laugh, thinking how karma was a bitch in its choice of revenge. He had sold Riki to Iason, betraying his own and now, even though seven years has passed, he had been sold, no _given_, to Iason's close Blondie acquaintance as his play thing.

"Fine, be an ass. But I'm telling you if you allow me to do it, it'll up your profits. I shit you not." Riki saluted Katze with the bottle of pricy beer in his hand as he flicked his cigarette over the railing. He already knew what Katze's answer was going to be so he wasn't disappointed in the red-heads rejection, but just talking about it, voicing his idea out load calmed his chaotic mind and frantic pacing of his trapped soul in the gilded cage he lived in.

Katze used the cherry of his cigarette to light up a new one, deeply inhaling the flavorful smoke of the rich tobacco. "If Iason were to hear you talk about this, any little freedom you may have now will disappear in a blink of an eye."

"….Three fucking years Katze…three…" Riki's jaw clenched tightly shut his throat working furiously as he tried to force the words he wanted to say out. "I haven't stepped out from Eos's since Guy kidnapped me and all that other shit happened at Dana Bahn….Three years of doing _jack fucking shit!" _

Katze turned his face away, not that he really needed to since Riki's face was turned away from his, but just in case he didn't want the lovely black haired mongrel to see the pity that showed clearly on his otherwise emotionless face.

"Don't, Katze." Riki tonelessly said. "Don't pity me and don't fucking feel guilty for selling me to Iason. You were just a tool, a pawn that Iason used, and if it wasn't you than he would have just found someone else. It was my stupid ass that egged him on when we first met, got him interested in me."

Katze snapped his head around to peer intently at Riki. "How…how did you meet Iason? Someone like yo-" Katze cut off the rest of what he was about to say, realizing how insulting his question would seem and not wanting offend Riki.

"How did someone like _me _meet Iason Mink the prized beauty queen to the high bitch Jupiter?" Riki laughed. "Let's just say that my hands weren't as quick as I thought they were." Riki lifted his bottle to his lips, taking a deep swig of beer. "I tell ya though, _this,_" Riki waved mockingly around the rich balcony, "was far beyond the punishment I thought I would get from tangling with Iason."

"Punishment? Such unwelcoming words."

Riki glared at the voice that intruded upon his personal time. "Back so soon? And here I thought you would stay away longer." Riki stiffened when the huge Blondie glided over to him and pulled him into his arms, hugging him tightly to his freakishly strong hard body.

Riki glowered when the damn Blondie dismissed Katze and they were left alone in the shining light of the twin Amoi moons.

"Are you going to continue to sulk?"

"Sulk?" Riki gave a sarcastic laugh. "I'm not fucking sulking, I'm pissed."

"Just remember, it was due to your pleas that, that _thing_ is still alive and running around freely when it was within my right to publicly have him executed for the crimes he has done to me, to _us_. And because of your heartfelt pleas to spare his life I left him alone…I can't take the chance of you being taken from me again, so I suggest your talks with Katze and working in the Black Market again ends here. It will never happen."

Riki gashed his teeth. "How fucking long were you listening to us talk?"

"Long enough."

Long ago having learned that resisting the Blondie was pointless, Riki didn't fight when Iason turned him around in his arms and lifted his chin to meet his glaze.

"Prized beauty queen, am I?"

"'I thought you Elites had manners? Shouldn't eavesdropping be below you fuckers," Riki raised his voice slightly to the other Blondie that was undoubtedly listening.

"When it comes to you, one quickly learns to wisely throw away such teachings if they want to stay a step ahead of you."

Riki grunted, slightly pleased by the compliment as Iason lowered his head, the Elite's pale blonde hair veiling their faces from anyone watching, kissing him deeply.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

Raoul laughed softly at Riki's words that were aimed at him regarding eavesdropping then turned to his own prized pale beauty. "Come to me Katze," Raoul said, gentling the words to make them more of a request then a command. Raoul had found that while fear worked well in dealing with Katze with Iason, he on the other hand found that he did not want that kind of fear in Katze's heart when it came to him.

Pulling his red-head towards him, Raoul removed his white gloves so that he could feel the soft fullness of Katze's full lower lip with his bare fingertips. "You look tired," Raoul commented.

"It's been a very busy at the 'office' right now. I should be there even now."

Raoul shook his head. "No, Katze. I understand that Iason needs you where you are, that you cannot be replaced but you are also in my care. How many hours have you slept today?"

"A few."

"Really? When?" Raoul demanded. The one thing Raoul had discovered about the hard working hacker was that he tended to forget about his welfare when emerged in a project. Things like eating a proper meal was replaced with cups after cups of bitter coffee and cigarettes. Sleeping Raoul found out became nonexistent, which lead to his current problem with the red-head now.

"I took a break and rested."

Raoul also, unhappily, discovered that Katze could lie to him while looking him dead in the eyes. "From what was reported to me. Your 'break' consisted of you speaking to your foremen, regarding some suspiciously damaged, and discarded, merchandise."

"Who-"

"Iason isn't the only once with contacts Katze." Raoul kissed the corner of his lover's lips. "You will sleep once we return home, no arguments."

"Yeah, Katze, you're already skinny and pale as it already fucking is. Any more and the hard asses you have to bitch slap everyday to get to work will think they can take you."

"Not quite the phrasing I would use but Riki is correct. You do have an image to uphold and it would not do you any good if your subordinates began to think you did not have any power over them," said Raoul giving the black haired mongrel a nod in greeting, and also thanks for helping him.

"My 'power' over my crew has never been questioned before and I have been working like I have been for over a decade."

Raoul could not disagree with Katze on that, but that was before he came along.

"Rest, Katze that is an order. If you are sleep deprived than that will affect your ability to work, and mistakes are unacceptable," Iason said firmly as he caressed the side of Riki's neck with his fingertips.

Raoul smiled almost smugly, not about to become angry at Iason for stepping in.

"…Of course…I will do as you say…"

Iason chuckled at the sullen look that flashed momentarily over his ex-Furniture face. "Come, Cal should have dinner prepared already." Gently nudging Riki forward, Iason escorted his lover to the dinning area.

"Iason, may I have a word with you in private?" Raoul called out, nodding to Katze to go on ahead.

Waiting until his suspicious ex-Furniture passed by him and well out of hearing range. Iason tilted his head in question to Raoul.

"I would like to request the service of your Furniture Cal," Raoul hesitantly said.

"Oh," said Iason lifting an amused brow.

"Katze….is a stubborn creature, much like your mongrel in some sense, and his health isn't to where I would like it to be. I have a supplement that I want him to take, created a capsule, so that I can hide it in his food or drink…" Raoul gashed his teeth with he saw the way Iason's eyes lighted up in laughter, even though his face was clear of any emotions.

"You want to _hide_ vitamins in Katze's food?" Iason didn't hide the humor in his voice, but just as he was about to further harass his friend about it, Iason stopped. "What exactly is it that you want to give him?"

Raoul went down the long list of the mixture he created and the benefits. "Will you allow me to do it here? And before you ask, Katze is very…accommodating when he is here while at home he voices his complaints and would refuse to consume anything he gets a negative 'feeling' about."

Iason slowly nodded. "I think Riki might also benefit from this as well." Calling out to his Furniture Iason took the bottle that held the pills from Raoul and handed it to Cal, but allowed Raoul to direct the boy in how he wanted the pills to be hidden so that the two unsuspecting men waiting for them wouldn't discover their little bit of treachery.

"I'm surprised you don't just order Riki to take the pills," Raoul said after Cal left to do as they bid.

Iason looked at Raoul. "I've found that there are some battles that don't need to be fought when it comes to my mongrel," said Iason dryly. "Riki is restless at the moment and has a tendency to look for trouble when he becomes this way."

"I thought he Orphe has been using him to train the guards?" Raoul asked as they both, slowly, made their way to the dinning area.

Iason gave a little chuckle. "Orphe still has not forgiven Riki from his successful escape from Eos, so many years back. His request to have Riki 'train' Eos security members was so that his men would be able to learn how Riki fought and thus be able to take him down faster."

Raoul laughed as well. "How is that working out for him?"

Proudly Iason grinned at his friend. "I would say that Orphe still has of yet been able to learn the best way to contain Riki should my mongrel find another way out of Eos main doors.'

"You guys going to stay out there all night? Some of us are hungry and wanna eat."

Raising an amused brow at Riki's bellow, Iason and Raoul entered the dinning room as Cal was serving their lovers their drinks.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

**Eight weeks later**

"I feel sick…I think that cream crap you forced me to eat at that prissy ass Elite party was bad," Riki groaned as he pulled the covers back and settled down next to his majestic Elite Blondie lover. It was five in the morning and only now did they get home.

"The food was not bad," Iason replied absentmindedly as he tried to finish reading the report Katze had given him of the new trade requests that had been waiting for him when they returned home.

"It was bad…." Riki mumbled nauseously. "It tasted good going down, but now it wants to come back up."

"You're a mongrel. You're just not accustomed to such rich high quality food," Iason muttered.

"I've been gagging this 'high quality' shit down my gullet for eight years-"

"Seven years, ten months and forty-two days," Iason corrected as he turned the page of his report.

"Whatever, all I'm saying is that the cream puff shit, was bad." Grimacing Riki tried to get in a comfortable position. "I think I got food poisoning."

"You think you got food poisoning from an event thrown by an Elite?" Iason laughed softly.

Glaring at Iason, Riki pulled all of the blankets to his side. "Laugh it up asshole," Riki hissed.

Sighing, knowing that he wouldn't get anything done until he gave Riki his full attention, Iason put his work on the side. He had meant to humor Riki but as Iason looked down at the strong, yet delicate, features of his lover, he frowned as how pale Riki's normally vibrant bronze skin was.

"Do you feel any pain? Abdominal cramps? Chills? Have you vomited since we've returned?" Iason demanded as he placed his hand over Riki's forehead to see if he had a fever.

Riki batted Iason's off of his head. "No, no, no, and again, no." Riki knew he had been the one bitching and for some odd reason looking for attention from Iason, but now that he got Iason's eyes on him he felt smothered and irritated.

"You mind backing up off me? I need a little room to breathe."

Iason grasped Riki's stubborn chin up so that he could look into his eyes, checking his pupils. "Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to call Raoul to check to make sure you haven't caught anything from the delegates that were at the party."

Riki grinned. "I still find it funny as hell how you are able to snap your fingers and have another Elite, a Blondie ta boot, to come running. I use to think that all you yellow haired bastards walked on the same bridge."

"And now?" Iason asked as he brushed a wild black lock off of Riki's forehead, smiling.

"And now I don't," Riki whispered pulling Iason's hand down to kiss the palm of his hand.

Iason shivered when he felt the tip of Riki's tongue in that little touch of affection. "I need to work Riki."

Sinking his fingers in the wealth of Iason's silky hair, Riki leaned up and kissed the Blondie tenderly on the lips. "Then work," he heatedly whispered, nausea forgotten and replaced with something else.

Growling low in his throat, Iason pulled Riki fully into his lap and slammed his mouth down over the mongrel's. "You will surely be the death of me," Iason rasped after he lifted his head, and while Riki smoothly unbuttoned and eased his night shirt off his shoulders.

"Been there, remember? The devil couldn't take the chance of letting you in and heaven couldn't handle the heat we brought, so they kicked us out and sent us back here," Riki laughed as he changed his position so that he saddled Iason.

"Fascinating creature," Iason softly said as he hugged Riki to him. "I love you."

Riki paused. "…I do to Iason…With all the shit I've had to put up with to be with you, you gotta know that I do…." Riki pushed away from Iason's chest to look into the Blondies warm light blue eyes. "I love you," Riki said clearly, seriously. "I know I seldom say these words but you know I do, don't you?"

"I know, even when you complain so vociferously," Iason chuckled.

"Then maybe you should give me something else to occupy my mind to keep me from bitching?" said Riki as he began to nibble on the side of Iason's neck.

"I thought you were sick?" Even as Iason asked he was easing the boy backwards to lie on the bed.

"Maybe I just need a little something to drink?" Riki gave Iason a crocked grin as he wrapped his legs around the Blondie. "How about it? Will you quench my thirst?"

Work forgotten Iason let Riki feel how much he wanted to by grinding his hips into the boy.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Katze flushed the toilet, disposing the evidence of his sickness. Staggering over to the sink he rinsed his mouth out and splashed cold water over his face.

For the two months he had been hiding his failing health from Raoul, but as the nausea and fatigue became worse Katze began to doubt his rash decision. He had secretly taken a few tests but all of them had come back negative for any diseases or viruses. But that didn't mean he didn't have one, not with the kind of cargo and merchandise he handled daily there was no telling what could have gotten pass them, even with all of their safety protocols.

"I'll tell him tonight," Katze mumbled. He could only count his blessing that Raoul had been so caught up in his new project that he hadn't noticed how sever his sickness had gotten. Katze had made sure to keep it as quiet as possible by actually using his breaks to take naps in his office, naps that Raoul somehow knew about and approved of.

But Katze couldn't keep it a secret any longer. The new deal he was setting up for Iason promised to be the largest underground payoff in Black Market history and he couldn't afford to be anything less then a hundred and ten percent.

Sighing, Katze splashed water on his face once more before turning off the faucet. Wiping his face Katze stood and stared at the dark lines under his face. Taking a deep breath he lifted his chin. "It's nothing serious," Katze whispered just before gagging and rushing back to the toilet. What ever little water that he had swallowed when he washed out his mouth came back up, which left him dry heaving painfully.

"Sir Katze? Are you alright?"

Laying his head on the rim of the toilet seat, Katze sucked in a few shallow breaths before speaking. "I'm perfectly fine Julio," Katze called out to the concerned Furniture, behind the door. "I just drank a little too much last night and now I'm feeling the effects."

"…. Pardon me for speaking out of turn, sir, but… you have been drinking quite a lot lately…"

"The new potential business partners that I am currently entertaining like to drink," said Katze tiredly, the only excuse he could come up with in his condition.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Prepare a tonic for my headache," Katze said trying to keep from gagging. "And if you could ready a proper suit for me so that I may wear to the office."

"…Right away sir."

"Thank you Julio," Katze mumbled, his head already back over the porcelain bowl, heaving what little spec that might remain in his stomach.

"Just ten hours and I can rest…"

_Just ten more long and torturous hours….. _

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

Trapped behind his desk, Raoul looked dispassionately at the mountain of unfinished paperwork that he had put off to so he could start his new project, an interesting theory a fellow, Platina, Elite in his department had that he agreed to over see.

But because of that he was two months behind. Picking up the first report, the one of his success in the new breeding drug, Raoul begin to read and it didn't take long before he reached over to buzz the tech he had put in control of the experiment.

"Thomas, explain to me in better detail why the first test subjects failed in conception when the other three groups have a hundred percent in all stages?" Raoul sternly asked.

"_We are not sure Sir Am. The first test subjects were given the drug you personally handled while the other three were given drugs administered by lad tech hands. While the four volunteers' health has gotten better, they still fail to conceive. We have yet to understand why."_

"It is impossible that all four females together are able to resist the affect of the drug, nor is it possible it was tainted in any way since I-" Raoul froze.

"Sir Am?"

"That is all Thomas," Raoul curtly replied, cutting the man off and calling his apartment.

"Julio? Where is Katze now?" Raoul barked once his Furniture picked up on the other end.

"_Sir Katze has already left to begin his day Master Am."_

"Tell me Julio, have you noticed anything off with Katze?" Even as he spoke, Raoul grabbed his medical bag and shifted through the contents, and adding to the supply before snapping the black bag closed.

"_Off with Sir Katze, Master Am?"_

"Have you noticed a significant change in his health?" Raoul asked while typing in a quick message to his assistant to cancel all of his appointments for the day and telling him he was leaving.

"_Yes, Sir Katze has been vomiting in the mornings quite a lot. He says it's from drinking with his clients….but I'm not sure if he speaks the truth. I began to notice just a couple of weeks ago, but I think this has been happening for quite a while now."_

"Why did you not say anything sooner?" Raoul demanded.

"…_I did Master Am… I sent you numerous messages….I did not b-bring up the subject when you were at home-"_

"Because Katze has always been percent," Raoul finished. "Juilo, I want you to contact Iason's household and see if he is still in and request an audience with him. Tell him it is an emergency regarding Riki."

"_Yes, Master Am." _

Cutting the line, Raoul dialed Katze's cell number and waited impatiently for the red-head to answer.

"_How may I help you Raoul?" _

Normally Katze's greetings to him, the same words he used now, would be filled with a hint of fire, just enough to be respectful but just barely. _How could I have missed this?_ Thought Raoul, at how tired Katze's voice sounded. "Where are you right now?"

"_Currently I am leaving the underground parking garage of Eos and making my way to my office."_

"Return back to the apartment," Raoul ordered.

A loud sigh sounded over the phone. _"Raoul…"_

"No arguments Katze. I am on my way home now and I expect you to be there." Stripping out of his white lab coat, Raoul uncharacteristically threw it on one of his office chairs.

"…_Did Julio call you?" _

"He did not. I was the one to call him. That we will also talk about at home. On second thought, go straight to Iason's apartment. Ten minutes Katze." Hanging up the phone Raoul rushed out with his medical bag in his hand.

He could be overacting, and his panic could be nothing…but as Raoul, in long strides, made his way out of his lab and down the long hallways that would lead him out of Jupiter Tower, he could not stop thinking about the night, two months ago, when that clumsy, young, tech had spilled Katze's pills on the table that also held the first batch of breeding capsules.

Katze's vitamins must have been accidentally been put in the wrong bottle and given to him.

The group of females he had administered the drug to and their failure to conceive, and Katze's failing health…but Iason would have called him immediately if Riki had fallen ill…Raoul shook his head. Even if it all came out to be nothing he had to make sure.

Never had he thought of the probability of a male becoming susceptible to the drug, but there was no reason that the opposite sex could not. The drug he made was not created to be used only on females, it was created with the purpose to force the human body to hold young….no matter the difference of reproduction organs…The fact that Raoul had not taken in this factor was a failing towards himself and as a Blondie. An Elite of his rank and standing did not make such careless mistakes. He should have been the one to give it to Katze. If he had than he would have noticed right away that it wasn't the correct bolus.

The moment Raoul entered the great doors to Eos his cell rang. Grimacing at who was calling, Raoul to a deep breath and answered. "Iason."

"_Raoul, would you care to explain the call I just received from your Furniture?"_

Nodding his head in greeting to the Elites that were in the lobby, Raoul crossed the white, gold flicked, marble floors and straight to the elevators that would take him to the top. Once the doors closed, away from prying eyes and ears, only then did Raoul speak.

"First I must ask Iason…Has Riki showed any signs of nausea? Vomiting in the mornings or any time of the day? Fatigue?"

"_No he has not. What is this all about Raoul? I have a meeting in less than-" _

"There _could_ be a serious problemon our hands Iason." Raoul didn't have time to sugar coat the problem so he just bluntly told Iason the switch in bottles and the out come of human pet breeding and the failure of one of the groups, Katze's health and the unbelievable possibility that could have befallen their pets.

Raoul held his breath when the party on the other end of his call was silent.

"_Interesting, but I fail to see how what you believe to have occurred to be true. Unlike females there is no way that a specimen of ours could possibly reach any egg that was created." _

"Is it?" Raoul asked, tapping his foot impatiently for the elevator to reach the top. "Testing is still in its first stage and males were never considered to be a carry. I have no idea what is possible and what is not. The drug has the capability to create-grow- a fully functional, if not temporary, uterus. There's no saying what kinds of alterations were made due to the medication being fed to a male."

Stepping out of the elevator that finally stopped and opened its doors for him, Raoul walked down the short hallway to the only door on the floor. "I'm here," said Raoul hanging up, and in less then two seconds the door opened and there stood Iason.

"Katze should be arriving in just a few moments," said Raoul as his greeting. "Iason…is Riki here?"

"Where the fuck else would I be? Its not like the fucker would let out of this shit hole."

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

Iason sighed at Riki's crude language voiced behind him. "Come in Raoul," Iason commanded as he stepped to the side.

"Thank you."

"Shouldn't the both of you be working?" Riki irritably commented as he glared at the two Blondies. "Fucking useless."

Iason watched as Riki stormed off in the direction on the kitchen. "He has been short of temper this morning all because of a simple question I asked regarding his plans for the day. He has more freedom then any pet here, full access to roam Eos and, with a guard present, to step out and wander about Tanagura, more than enough to fill his day…"

"…Has his moods shifted from happy to sad for a while now?"

"Sad?" Iason chuckled. "No, not sad, more like happy and energetic to raging ball of fire within seconds." Motioning Raoul further into the apartment, Iason crossed into the living room and sat down, calling for his Furniture as he leaned back.

"Cal, where is Riki?"

"Sir Riki is currently searching the cabinets for something to eat. He said that the "pathetic partial amount that you severed for breakfast was shit"…Sir Riki's appetite has doubled…I thought I had made enough to accommodate his new needs but…"

"Iason…"

Ignoring Raoul, Iason told his Furniture to tell Riki to join him and Raoul, bring them drinks, then make Riki anything that he may want to eat before turning back to his friend. "Have you brought the instruments you need to confirm your suspicions?" Iason asked quietly as his object of love stalked angrily towards him.

"I do."

"Then there is no reason to delay-."

"No reason to delay in what?" Riki demanded to know, flopping himself down next to Iason and glaring at him at the same time.

"There could be a potential problem in a drug that I created, and-"

"Wait, wait," Riki laughed, "So you're saying that _you_, Mr. "I'm perfect in everything I do" fucked up?" Anger forgotten in a blink of an eye, Riki jabbed Iason in the ribs. "Oh, this is rich. So tell us _Raoul,_ what could you have done that's made you go running to Iason for help?"

Iason raised a brow at how quickly Riki's temperament changed. Normally his mongrel brooded for days on end before getting over whatever snit he was in. Looking at Raoul, Iason nodded to him, a signal to brace himself for the storm that was to come.

"Riki-"

The chiming of the door interrupted Iason as he was about to correct Riki or Raoul's so called "fuck up".

"Good morning Sir Iason, Riki."

"Katze! Check this. Your bubby boy here fucked up royally on some shit. Pull up a chair, and by the way you look like crap," Riki called out his mood a hundred times better then it had been a few minutes ago. Quite frankly he didn't know why he flipped out on Iason. His Blondie's habit in the morning was to ask him about his plans were for the day…Riki couldn't explain it, but the tone of Iason's voice when he had asked his daily question had pissed him off.

"Thank you Riki, it's good to see you too."

Iason looked at Katze in shock, his face may have been clear of said emotion but inside he was astounded by the frailty of his employee, the deathly pallor of Katze's already pale face and dark coloration under his eyes.

"Katze!"

"I'm fine Raoul, or at least later in the day I will look much more presentable then I do now."

"Sit down dude, before you fall down," Riki off handedly said, all his attention currently on Raoul and the tasty bit of juice he was about to spill. Rubbing his hands in anticipation Riki snapped a few words at Katze to hurry the hell up and sit down.

But it didn't take long before the wide grin on Riki's face slowly faded as Raoul spoke, his amusement slowly turning into horror with each word that passed the Elites lips until he felt Iason grab a hold of him to hold him back from attacking.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

Frozen in his chair, Katze watched as Riki tried to wrestle out of Iason's steel grip so he could do bodily harm to his Elite lover. _Well, it does explain all my symptoms _if _it is true_, thought Katze, and in a small way he was relieved that what he had wasn't s some sort of wasting illness.

"Katze! Are you just going to sit there and say nothing!"

"I understand your fury, Riki, and it does not surprise me in the slightest that Raoul," Katze shot the Elite next to him a reprimanding glance, "would do as he did, but it was not done out of malice. I'm sure after a quick exam to confirm his suspicions, and if such is the case that we are….as his believes, Raoul with take quick measures to correct this unforeseen occurrence."

"Beautifully said," Raoul replied, not believing for a moment that his red-head was as coolly composed as his words. "Then let us start with you Katze."

Katze nodded elegantly and stood to remove his soft grey, striped, dress jacket, holding it out for Iason's young Furniture to hold before un-tucking his pristine white shirt and unbuttoning his trousers.

Raoul stepped forward to block Riki and Iason's view of Katze's beautiful pale skin and tantalizing patch of red hair that had been uncovered, not that it mattered really since all of Iason's attention was towards Riki, and Riki's attention was all into trying to break free from the majestic Blondie's unbreakable hold, that was restraining him.

Taking a small device from his bag, Raoul coded in a few commands and held it by Katze's lower abdomen.

"_**Scan in progress." **_

The grunts and hissed curses behind Raoul quieted at the monotone computerized voice from his hand held body scanner.

"What the fuck is that?"

Not taking his eyes away from Katze's golden glaze, Raoul answered Riki's question. "I can't very well bring you down to get you a real ultrasound, so instead I've brought along a limited area body scanner. If it is true then the both of you should be in your first trimester and I should be able to pick up something-"

"_**Abdominal scan complete."**_

For the second time, the first being the night he finally claimed Katze's body for his own, Raoul was nervous as the device completed it analysis and the verdict was spelled out on the small screen. Clearing his throat Raoul turned around. "Let's do you next Riki."

"What did it say Raoul?" Katze asked as he straightened his clothing and retrieved his coat from Cal's arms.

"After I scan Riki, only then will I speak of what I've found." Raoul kept his distance until Iason finished whispering into Riki's ear, giving them their privacy as well as respecting Riki's need to "save face", as he had heard Katze say, knowing how prideful the black haired mongrel was.

Raoul watched as Riki snapped up his tight black shirt up and how his friend stilled the mongrel's hand when he was about to do the same with his black silk tied pants, doing the same as he had with Katze by blocking Raoul's view of the delicate hairs that traveled a path towards the boy's sex, only allowing Raoul's eyes to see what he needed to see.

Listening to the same message from the small computer, as it had with Katze, Raoul and all that were in the room, waited until the monotone from the device announced its completion, after a prolonged moment Raoul spoke of its findings.

"Positive…Both you and Katze are carrying."

"Get it the fuck out!"

"Calm yourself Riki."

"Fuck calm Iason! Do I fucking look like some bitch to you? Get the fucking thing out."

Raoul put the device back into his bag and withdrew two syringes and vials. "I need to take some blood just to be absolutely certain as well as bringing the both of you to the hospital to get an ultrasound."

"Why?" Katze's inquired softly. "If there was any doubt it would have told you."

"Katze speaks the truth. There is no need to prolong the inevitable. The accuracy of that little medical accessory is nothing less then a hundred percent in all of its findings, if programmed correctly to find was it is ordered to do. Set up the operating table Raoul. You and I both know that this isn't something that can be held off, that it can very well be life threatening, and the only thing I won't allow if for anything, or anyone, to endanger Riki in anyway."

Hearing the deadly warning in Iason's tone, Raoul nodded. The fact that his drug worked in such a miraculous way intrigued his Elite mind and he couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they permit the pregnancy to continue, but that was only a small part of him, a larger part of him snarled at the possibility that his _mate_ could come to harm with every second the developing fetus was in Katze.

"I'll get everything prepared." Pulling out his minicomputer, Raoul began to order two operating rooms to be set up for an emergency cesarean section for both Riki and Katze. "Twenty minutes and the rooms will be ready."

Katze had been silent through the whole thing only because he couldn't trust himself from not screaming out in rage at Raoul. His easy acceptance had dissipated the moment Raoul had confirmed that his feared sickness was nothing more than "morning sickness" that breeding females suffered through when their bodies began to change and ready itself for the infant that was growing within them.

Katze had been around breeding females to know exactly was would have happened to him if forced to carry the 'thing', as Riki called it, to full term, which was why he breathed a sigh of relief when Iason gave the order to put them under the knife and get it out.

"We need to get down there right away so you both can-"

"Master Iason you have a call."

All eyes turned to glare at the nervous young Furniture.

"Not now Cal. Take a message and I will return the call later."

"…I can't… I was ordered to tell you to "come now"…"

Raoul stiffened and saw Iason do the same. There was only one person- entity- that order one such as Iason.

Raoul shook his head to Katze's silent question, while simultaneously ignoring Riki's voiced demand when Iason swiftly left them and disappeared in the direction of his home office to take the call in private.

In less then five minutes Iason reappeared, and the look on the Blondie's aristocratic beautiful face, the murderous rage shimmering in those ice blue eyes silenced the words Raoul saw forming on the black haired mongrel's lips.

"Jupiter has canceled the abortion and has ordered that the pregnancies will continue. Riki and Katze will carry the fetuses until full term or if need be the children can be safely be delivered but only after the thirty-forth week when the infants organ systems has matured."

Raoul slightly paled at Iason's thunderous look. "She wants this to happen? I would think that Jupiter would be the first not want the blending between our blood and that of another not of Elite linage."

"As it happens Jupiter finds the whole thing to be…a miracle… if one could pick a word for the 'feelings' she expressed upon me when she intercepted the information you sent to the hospital. Elites were never meant to breed, but here you and I are with pregnant lovers carrying our bloodline within them."

"…and Jupiter would never allow the termination of an Elite, and a direct heir from her chosen one," Raoul whispered.

"Not just mine Raoul, but yours also. Jupiter allowed you to keep Katze because of his strange Elite like intellect and approved of him. With Riki she 'feared' his strength at first, in the beginning, but now she 'hopes' that his unbending will, his _fire_, and cleverness will be passed onto the babe he carries within him as does she 'hopes' that Katze's intellect and never ending patients will onto yours."

Raoul stared at Iason in shock.

"Fuck me…" Riki whispered.

"That right there is how we got into this problem Riki," Katze testily replied as he began to plan the demise of one honey haired Blondie that got them into this mess.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

_**Two weeks later**_

"What the fuck is that? Holy crap it's ugly," Riki said making a disgusted face at the picture that flowed on the screen to his left.

Stretched out on hard bed, with Iason's imposing figure standing next to him, Riki shifted uncomfortable as Raoul smeared more cold slimy crap on the ever growing budge in his lower abdomen. "Seriously is its head supposed to be…misshapen like that?"

"Yes Riki. You're about ten weeks along and the fetus should weigh about one-third of an ounce right now. His heart is almost completely developed and looks perfectly fine, and healthy. His wrists and ankles have also formed and the fingers and toes are clearly visible and if you look closely at the screen you can see them. The baby's genital has begun to form, but it is still too early to tell the sex of the fetus."

Riki squinted his eyes at the screen. "Sorry Raoul all I see is a tadpole with a mutated head. You sure it's not a tumor?" Looking up, Riki gave a soft whistle to capture Iason's attention when calling out his name didn't seem to work. "What do you think Iason?"

"Is it still safe for Riki to hold it?" Iason demanded, as he stared at the image on the monitor.

"Yes. Riki is perfectly fine and healthy. From what I've read on the questionnaire that he filled out, he has gained ten pounds already and has had no ill effects, such as vomiting, which could lead to dehydration, and his appetite has been great. I would still strongly recommend that you continue with the prescribed prenatal vitamins until the replacements that Jupiter has ordered, the "all natural" supplements that should be due to arrive in a few days."

"Are you done looking at that thing Iason? 'Cause I really don't want this stuff on me any longer." Riki knocked Raoul's hand away from his stomach when he didn't get an answer from his Blondie and removed the hospital gown he was forced to wear, using it to wipe the slime off of him. "I'm hungry."

Riki gave a little grimace at his statement. His increased desire for food was beginning to worry him, as was his enlarging waistline. Getting fat meant getting slow, not that speed was needed in the pretty little cage he lived in, he wasn't in Ceres any longer where he had to be fast and quick with his fists and feet, but the thought of losing it worried him. How big exactly was he going to get? When he saw Katze last night he noticeably saw that he had been bigger than the red-head.

"How is Katze?" Riki asked, surprised when he was Iason and Raoul had moved to the far corner of the room. He hadn't noticed that the Blondies had moved away from him. "What the fuck are the both of you talking about?" Riki asked suspiciously.

"Only about your health and the amount you seem to consume daily," Iason replied dryly. Nodding to Raoul in thanks, Iason escorted Riki out of the medical room. The both of them were quiet as they made their way back to their penthouse apartment in Eos, having decided to eat at home rather then in a restaurant.

"Is there a problem?" Riki asked tightly as the entered their home.

Gathering Riki's stiff form in his arms, Iason kissed his lover on the neck, holding him until he relaxed. "Katze isn't taking it as well as you are and Raoul requested if I could remove Katze from the Black Market until after the birth of the child."

"How serious is this "not taking it as well as you"?" Riki softly asked, turning in Iason's arms and wrapping his arms around his neck.

"Not serious enough to take him away from his duties. Duties that Katze has, almost violently, demanded to hold onto," said Iason kissing Riki tenderly on the lips.

"Are you?" Tugging on Iason Iason's hair to bring his head back down Riki gave the Blondie a kiss of his own, which left them both breathless when they came up for air.

"No I am not, and not just because I need him there but because Jupiter does not see a problem with Katze's continued service at the Black Market. As long and he had his guards and a doctor to treat him with his sickness, eating and threatening dehydration she does not feel the need for him to stop, unless Katze wishes to stop and rest."

"Jupiter's playing favorites with mongrels, huh? That's funny," Riki chuckled.

"Unlike you who has been forbidden from doing anything without me being personally by your side," Iason said. He hadn't wanted to tell Riki now of Jupiter's decree but speaking up later rather then now would make no difference to the out come. In fact it was better to tell Riki now because that way the boy would get over it faster.

"What?" Pushing away from Iason, Riki stared up at the Blondie angrily. "What the fuck do you mean I've been _forbidden_ from doing anything without you by my side? Does it look like I need a babysitter?"

"Katze's job in the Black Market is anything but physical, which is why he is allowed to stay where he is, for the moment. While you, and all that you do, is. Jupiter will not take the chance that you could become physically harmed by another pet or an unknowing guard." Iason had known from the very beginning, once hearing the order from Jupiter, that he would have a more than a _difficult_ time with Riki, but he had approved. He did not want anything to harm Riki and his young that his virile lover carried within his body.

"You're shitting me right?" Pissed Riki shoved away from Iason only to have the damn Blondie grab his arm and spin him around, slamming him against the wall, but in a way that Riki didn't feel any pain from impact.

"You are well known for your fights with the non Elites that reside in Eos, Riki. But if it is the lack of physical contact you are worried about then fear not because you will have more then you can handle here." Commanding Riki to spread his legs, Iason fondled the soft spheres of Riki's balls as he placed kisses on the mongrel's long neck.

"I'm still hungry," grumbled Riki, his anger forgotten for the moment as two much more pressing needs rose up within him…the trouble was it was hard to decide with which one he wanted the most, what hunger he wanted feed first.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

His fingers flying over the keyboard Katze hissed when the IV line snagged a little. Because of the unfortunate physical activity that he had participated in, and a mistake in medication given to him, he now found himself ten weeks pregnant and afflicted with morning sickness that lasted all day and night, hence the reason why he was being intravenously being feed fluids to hydrate him due to the constant vomiting.

The day, two weeks ago that Jupiter had ordered the continuation of the pregnancies Riki had snapped, thrashing the apartment in his rage until Raoul had to sedate him and stayed at Iason's apartment with the Syndicate leader until the danger of Riki unknowingly doing harm to himself had passed.

Katze on the other hand had calmly stood and excused himself to go back to his offices at the Black Market where he took his anger out on the cocky merchants that thought that they were the shit from whatever shit hole of a planet they came from.

Riki's 'acceptance', Katze believed, was nothing but denial, a useful thing humans were allowed to use when the truth was too much to handle. The unique raven haired mongrel wasn't one to turn his back and blind himself from reality, but in this instance if Katze could than even he would ignore the growing alien entity within him…but unlike Riki who didn't seem to be afflicted by the damnable sickness that all breeding females went through, he didn't not have the luxury of hiding his head in the sand.

"Sir Katze? How are you feeling?"

Turning his attention away from his monitor to Raoul's Furniture, Julio, who was ordered to attend to him everywhere he went, Katze sighed, "Better. I haven't felt the need to eject anything that I have eaten or drank in the past three hours." It was a miracle really. The first time Katze had not thrown up after consuming something.

"That is wonderful! I must tell Master Raoul of the improvement!"

"Let us wait until we have returned home, he must be very busy, just as I am, and since I return to Eos at a five now it should not be too much if we keep the information to ourselves. Besides it has been only three hours. Let us finish up the day and see how long my stomach stays settled." Katze also didn't want to hear it from his Blondie lover about how his health would be better if he stayed home and rested.

Getting, shockingly, Jupiter's approval to continue at the Black Market had been his way of defying Raoul. His training was embedded into his soul so while he was learning to vocally disagree with Raoul it was still a struggle not to obey his every order, so getting Jupiter and Iason's blessing to carry on his work was a saving grace for him.

…Even with the armed guards and Julio watching his every move to ensure that he did not remove the fetus growing within him, something he had momentarily considered but dismissed from his mind….until he emptied his stomach of his lunch.

It wasn't just because of the deadly consequences that Katze didn't abort the child but because of curiosity that he didn't. The looks of fierce protection and love he had witnessed in the eyes of breeding pets and mongrel females being taken care of in Guardian that stilled his actions. He wanted to know what caused such devotion…and he was nothing if not a slave to his curiosity.

"Yo, Katze man, we got an appointment to meet some chump in five minutes."

Pulling out a cigarette, which was quickly snatched from his lips by Raoul's Furniture, Katze glared at Julio before looking at Alex in the doorway. "I'll be there in a minute."

"….Hey, Katze…You wanna tell me what's going on with all of thi-"

"No I don't. And it would be in your best interest, and everyone else, to mind your own business," Katze coldly warned. In just a few short weeks Katze knew that he would begin to show and wanted as much peace and quiet he could get before being bombarded by questions from everyone. The only thing they needed to know was that he wasn't sick to the point that they didn't think they needed to fear him.

Many had made that mistake and paid with their lives. But it wasn't just to cement his authority but because if Iason was forced to step in everyone would be replaced, in a permanent way. Acts of rebellion were not tolerated.

Removing the needle, Katze allowed Julio to place a bandage on the bruised puncture mark on the back of his hand before making his way to the open doorway of his office where Alex stood waiting for him.

"Mr. 'Smith' is on his way here."

Katze lifted his brows at that. "He's coming up to my personal office to make the deal? I thought you made it clear that all transactions and talks of business would be conducted in our visitors lounge?"

"Yea…I did but he's kinda demanding for a small fry."

That's all Katze needed was a small town thug thinking he was top shit just because the little planet he came from thought he was top dog. "Let's just get this over with," Katze sighed, but the moment he stepped out into the hall he slammed into a wall that figuratively made him stager backwards.

"What is that smell?" Katze hissed, hiding his gag with his hand. There were a total of seven people in the room that connected to the short hallway he was in. Narrowing his golden eyes Katze used his nose to try and find the foul odor.

"It's you." Homing in on the cheap suited greasy looking man headed his way, Katze was almost brought down to his knees with the strength of nausea that hit him. Anger filled Katze as his stomach rolled. Three blissful hours of not having to puke and here it was pissed all away by some dirty fool who thought to use cheap cologne to try and cover his body odor.

"You have exactly one minute to leave and remove that offending stench from your person or I will have you forcefully removed from my sight." The sink emanating from the man wasn't only threatening to up heave everything from his gut but also give Katze a pounding headache. "Get out now," Katze ordered trying to hold it in.

"How dare you! Do you know who I am!"

Glaring at the man how stormed towards him, Katze looked at Alex. "Kill him."

"Whoa there, boss man. I'm sure Mr. _Smith_ is sorry for the fragrance that he has sparingly splashed onto himself, so I'm sure we can forgive him just this once."

Katze 'tsked'. "Come back after you've taken a bath."

"Look here you little shit-"

"Is there a problem?"

Discreetly wiping the sweat on his forehead by pretending to smooth back his hair, Katze greeted the Blondie that approached. "No problem Raoul. Just a new client that was just about to leave and do as I've requested before coming back so that we may speak of the trade he wants to make with us."

Standing behind the small man Raoul looked down the length of his nose at the sniveling human. "Than for his sake I would do as you say…One would not want to anger my partner, for to do so would upset me….and you would not want that, would you, Mr. Smith?"

"N-no, of course not, I'll take my leave and do as was requested of me."

Once the man was out of his sight Katze shagged onto the doorway weakly. "Alex, go and get some fans to blow his stench from the halls."

"No problem boss."

Raoul didn't ask if Katze needed his help but immediately picked the red-head up in his arms once his lovers subordinate departed. Ignoring Katze's hissed threats Raoul ordered Julio to close the office door and lock it making it to Katze's private bathroom just in time for his lover began to gag and rip himself out of his arms to retch into the porcelain bowl.

Rubbing Katze back, Raoul also held ruby locks away from his lovers face. Once the Katze was finished Raoul took the wet cloth from Julio's hand who had quietly followed and stayed silently to the side while Katze became sick. "Feeling better?" Raoul asked handing Katze the cloth so he could clean his face.

"No, I'm not," Katze rasped, taking in deep breaths through his nose and exhaling repeatedly, praying for the sickness to fade. "How much longer does this last?"

"From the studies that we have recorded on breeding females in the past-"

"How long Raoul!" Moaning Katze held the cold comforting cloth to his forehead. "Just tell me how much longer I can expect _this_ to last?"

"Four to seven more weeks," Raoul hated seeing how weak Katze was, and knowing it was because of him that the elegant man before him was suffering.

"Why do I hear a 'but' in your tone Raoul?" Katze asked as he shakily got to his feet, with Raoul's help, and motioned to the sink were he could wash his mouth out.

Sighing Raoul waited until Katze was finished than picked him up to take him to the other door connected to the bathroom, taking them to the small bedroom consisting of only a small bed and dresser. Laying Katze down, Raoul sat next to him and took his hand, kissing Katze on his cold fingertips. "But there are in some cases where females do not "get over" this affliction during their confinement."

"Fucking perfect," Katze mumbled.

Moving the red-head further across the bed, Raoul lay next to Katze and pulled him into his arms. "I am sorry for this Katze." When Raoul didn't hear anything he looked down in his arms to see that in the seconds that had passed since he had pulled Katze to his side the ex-Furniture had fallen asleep.

"Nothing will happen to you under my care," Raoul whispered, caressing Katze powdery soft cheek than chuckling at the way his lover furrowed his brow at his disturbing touch. "Sleep, Katze." Kissing him gently on the forehead Raoul settled down on the mattress and closed his eyes too.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

_**Seven weeks later**_

"That better not be alcohol Riki," Iason growled as he finally found the temperamental mongrel, hidden in a corner, on the balcony. Last night, early this morning and this afternoon Riki had been nothing but a raging caged animal. The larger he became the more short he became to everyone around him.

"So what if it is!" Taking a gulp from his tall glass Riki smacked his lips, "nothing like having a cold one in the late afternoon sun."

"It's not good for the baby." Making a grab for the glass, Iason's fingertips glanced off of the cup, but even as surprisingly big as Riki had become he was still quick and agile, and was able to dash away before he could snatch the drink away.

"How the hell would you know if it is or isn't?" Riki sneered as he taunted Iason by taking another drink.

"Statistics show that most birth defects occur within the womb by consuming alcohol beverages," Iason all but snarled back. The swiftly changing moods Riki went through put him on edge, so much so that it was leaking into his work, amazingly as it were, and many had fallen into his temper in the past weeks because of it, thus the reason Jupiter had ordered him to take a few days to calm himself…yes, being at home was relaxing him very much.

"Statistics? What fucking statistics!" Riki sarcastically laughed. "All you bastards are born from a fucking test tube! Leave me the hell alone."

"The glass Riki," Iason hissed holding his hand out.

"Blow me."

"Riki!" Iason took a menacing step forward.

Seeing that he had just took this game a little too far Riki relented. "It's juice! Like that little kiss ass, Cal, would leave alcohol where I can find and get a hold of it."

Iason narrowed his eyes. "Give it to me now. If what you say is true then I'll give it back." It wouldn't be the first time Riki had lied to him and snuck off to drink a bottle of beer, glass of wine or smoke where no one could find him. Iason wasn't taking any chances.

Backing up a step Riki gave Iason the middle finger. "Touch or take my cup and Raoul will have to rush over here to reattach your fingers from me biting them off. Fuck off and leave me alone. Why don't you go crush some poor planet or something, anything, and leave me in peace? It's bad enough I'm forced to carry this parasite in me but fuck if I have to put up with you riding my ass…oh, wait…that's one of the reasons I'm in this fucking mess in the first place."

"The cup, Riki."

"You want the fucking cup? Fine!" Before Iason could stop him Riki down the entire glass then slammed it down on the bench near him. "There's your fucking cup. Now piss off."

"Master Iason? I've been keeping a close watch on Riki, just as you ordered, and he speaks the truth. What he is drinking is nothing more then freshly squeezed juice."

"Make sure you tickle his balls while you're kissing his ass Cal." Riki cracked to the young servant that appeared.

"Careful Riki," warned Iason.

"Or what? You'll punish me? Ha! Come on and do it then….awe, but wait you can't can you? Yea…if you did try to punish me like you normally do than that would be bad for the little blood sucker in me, so in other words you can't do shit but throw empty threats at me. Sucks to be you right now, doh'n it?" Laughing Riki grabbed his glass and made his way back in the apartment.

"His temper has increasingly become worse…."

"It's a matter of pride, even now, he needs to put up a strong front because he is at his weakest," Iason tiredly said as he tried to calm himself and not go into the apartment and turn the mongrel over his knee. Riki was right in that regard. Iason could do nothing to the boy. Male pregnancies were unknown to them and so they knew not what they could and could not do, even sex…Iason growled which made the young Furniture besides him make a quick retreat.

Riki and he had not had sex in seven long weeks, not since the day they had Riki's ultrasound. The vigorous movements and rough play they both enjoyed had lead to Riki being rushed to the emergency room. Raoul still did not know what had caused the attack that had almost killed the fetus but had strongly suggested to the point that he had been ordered not to touch Riki for any kind of physical gratification.

A loud crash of glass breaking snapped Iason's head towards the apartment. Rushing in Iason found Riki in the kitchen, were he normally spent all his time now days, standing in the middle of the marbled floored room.

"Riki!" Grasping the boy by the shoulders Iason spun him around. "What is it?"

"…."

Seeing how pale Riki's face had become Iason picked him up and sat down in the nearest chair he could find with the boy in his lap. "Are you in pain?"

"Moved."

Confused Iason forced Riki's face up so he could see the mongrel's expression. "Moved?"

"…It fucking moved. I felt it fucking move!" Riki began to hyperventilate. "It fucking moved in me. Shit this is real."

Iason tightened his grip on Riki's chin until the mongrel looked up at him once the slight pain registered. Iason and Raoul had spoken about Riki's unresponsiveness to the pregnancy after Riki's first break once Raoul had told all of them. While the mongrel spoke about the fetus growing in him Iason had noticed that the boy spoke of it as if it wasn't real, as if it was a joke, no matter how seriously he seemed to be when he opened his mouth about it.

His concern and Raoul's as well, was what would happen when Riki's protective bubble would pop and he was forced to accept the reality of the situation he was in. Raoul had wanted Riki to face the problem, to set him down and make him acknowledge the truth but Iason had disagreed. Yes, it was important that Riki didn't turn a blind eye to what was happening, but Iason also knew that as strong as a man Riki was, to have something as…female as carrying a babe in his body…. Iason let Riki go on as he was until he was ready to face it on his own.

"It's real," Iason whispered as he stared into Riki's eyes. "You are carrying my child within you."

"Fuck me…" Riki whispered, trying to hold it together, trying to keep his panic and fear from showing.

Iason chuckled as he kissed Riki tenderly on the lips, remembering that those were the first words Riki had said they had heard of his burden. "If only I could, then I would at this very moment," Iason whispered back.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

Opening his eyes Katze braced himself for the wave of nausea that normally always floored him the moment he woke in the mornings….and nearly wept when he felt nothing. No headache, no mad dash to the bathroom or in his case the large metal bowl at the side of the bed….nothing.

"How are you feeling Katze?" Raoul asked walking into the room and seeing his red-head's lovely golden eyes open.

"Tired, but surprisingly fine," Katze sighed in relief when talking didn't make him want to vomit, "looks like the active little tyke is finally giving me a break."

"Seventeen weeks right on the dot," Raoul chuckled, setting on the bed. "I think you should stay home today. It's not good for you continue your work at the Black Market and even Iason has told you that you should work remotely. Being in that place-"

"It's my job and I will not quit!" Katze was tired of having the same damn conversation with Raoul day after day, just like they daily had about him drinking coffee and how he still occasionally tries to sneak away to smoke a cigarette. Yes, he knew the supposed risks. Yes, he didn't want anything to happen to the child in him, although he very much doubted anything would be allowed to go wrong with the amount of medical wonders that they had at their finger tips.

But the one thing Katze did know was that if he wasn't allowed at least a cup of Joe a day and puff every once in a great while than he would seriously have to kill someone. Even now his fingers twitched to hold one of his fragrant cloves.

"Unlike Riki, Raoul, I have the ability to come and go freely and I am not letting it go."

"Unless you collapse again," Raoul shook his head. "I asked you not to go in but the fact is I've been told that you need to recuperate. You've lost weight from being sick and you've been admitted twice of sever dehydration."

"While Riki has been as healthy as a horse and gaining weight like a glutton… You must wish that I was like him for this, don't you?" Katze's dark chuckle tampered off when Raoul looked away. "Raoul? Riki is alright isn't he?"

"…He is fine." Standing up Raoul buzzed Julio to bring Katze his breakfast.

Narrowing his eyes Katze sat up. "Raoul, Riki is fine, isn't he?" he asked again, not liking how the Blondie evaded his question.

"It is not for me to say. Iason ordered me to say nothing as it would upset and worry Riki…he doesn't want Riki to know about the complication we found…" Raoul closed his mouth. "Iason has a handle on it," Raoul firmly said, ending the discussion.

"Tell me just one thing," Katze whispered. "Is this _complication_…is it life threatening?"

Gravely Raoul nodded. "It is."

Absentmindedly Katze rubbed his stomach where the child thumped against inside of him. "Iason is planning to keep it from him?"

"Yes. Iason believes that it's for the best. Riki still hasn't…"

"Come to terms with the fact that he's unnaturally holding another human being inside of him?" Katze said dryly. "If only I had such luxury." From the very beginning Katze hadn't been able to deny that there was a babe growing in him, not with the child reminding him ten times a day by rejecting whatever he consumed.

Staring at Katze's hand tenderly caressing his rounded belly, Raoul hesitantly put his hand over his. "Is he moving?"

"Never stops," Katze sighed tiredly.

"What…what does it feel like?" Raoul had on many occasions seen female pets doing the same as Katze was doing, but never had be voiced his question before.

"Is it the scientist that is asking or you?" asked Katze, but as uncomfortable as he was he removed his hand and replaced it with Raoul's.

Wonder filled Raoul's eyes as he felt a flutter of a feeling against his palm.

"That was a strong one," Katze whispered.

"That's because he knows his sire is here and expecting a response," Raoul commented lifting an arrogant brow. "And like any good Elite he did not fail in his duty."

"This Elite will also be half mongrel. How do you know that he wasn't trying to kick your hand off of him?" Katze joked.

"Well, you are also his sire so I wouldn't put it pass him," laughed Raoul. "Seventeen more weeks until he is born," Raoul softly said, giving Katze's belly one last caress before pulling away.

"Seventeen? Don't you mean twenty?" Katze asked as he slowly sat up, and sighed in happiness when he wasn't floored with the need to spew. Maybe it really was over.

"Your bodies were never designed to carry children, obviously, and while I would have been much more comfortable if we could remove the child earlier. Jupiter has made it clear that the earliest we can do so is at your thirdly-forth week of your last trimester." Raoul didn't go into further detail, not needing to with Katze who probably already had an inkling of why it was unsafe for Riki and him to go to full term.

"Seventeen more weeks, huh?" Swinging his legs over the side, Katze stood. "Well, it can't come soon enough." Determined to test his new stomach, Katze started for the kitchen.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

_**Eight weeks later**_

"Iason wake up. Wake up!"

Roughly woken up by a series a jabs in his ribs, Iason jerked straight up from the bed. "What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

Scratching his large belly Riki glared at Iason in the dark. "I'm hungry. Go get me something to eat."

"….Do you even realize what time it is?" asked Iason glancing at the clock on the night stand that glowed a soft blue showing him that it was four in the morning.

"Yea, its late or early, whatever…but it doesn't change the fact that I'm hungry." As if to back him up Riki's stomach growled.

Sighing, Iason laid back down on the bed. "I need to be up in three hours. Go back to sleep."

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I inconveniencing you? Lord fucking forbid that I do that, what with you fucking getting me pregnant and all, I know nothing of being inconvenienced. Shit, I can't even get my fat ass up after I sit down-"

"Alright!" Throwing back the covers Iason grabbed his silk robe from the edge of the bed and slipped it on, covering his naked form. "I'll wake Cal-"

"No, no, no," Riki said shaking his head. "Fuck if I'll have that little twit making me something to eat. He keeps putting vitamin crap in my food. _You_ do it."

Iason stared at Riki. "You expect _me_ to cook you something to eat?"

"Did you hear me stutter? Do you need me to repeat it back to you slower so you can understand me better the second time around? God damn it, it's hot!" Pulling all the blankets to him, Riki gathered them in his arms and tossed them on the floor. "Why are you just standing there? I'm hungry!"

Counting silently to ten, to calm himself down, Iason spun on his heel and walked out of the room. He just needed to wait ten more weeks and than the child would be out of Riki's body….Iason counted the days impatiently. If he had to wait any longer he knew he would end up wrapping his hands around Riki's throat.

Vocally commanding the lights to turn on, Iason paused once he entered the kitchen and grinded his teeth at what he was about to do. With all his superior knowledge the one thing Iason did not know was how to cook. But even so Iason refused to call his Furniture, not if he wanted to avoid the prickly comments of how "useless you fucking Blondies are" that Riki had taken a liking to saying right now. His mongrel was really pushing his luck and freedom of knowing that he could say anything and get away with it due to his currant condition.

Picking up a head sized melon from the fruit basket; Iason put it on the granite countertop and stared at it for a few moments.

"_What the hell is taking you so long!" _

Grabbing a large knife from its holder, Iason slashed down and split the melon in half, than quickly caught the two pieces as they went sailing. Turning back to Iason blinked at the knife that was embedded in the granite.

Leaving the blade where it was Iason opened drawer after drawer until he found a spoon, then used it to scoop out the seeds from one of the melon halves, side stepping when the slimy inedible seedlings fell on the floor, narrowly missing his bare feet.

After breaking three plates Iason finally had the mangled fruit on a dish and burnt eggs he had nearly set the kitchen on fire cooking. Washing his hands Iason made his way back to the bedroom.

"Holy fucking shit. It took you almost an hour and you come back with only that? What the hell did you do? Throw it against the wall to make it look like that?" Riki didn't know what pissed him off more, the fact that he was contently hungry or bitchy, but he did know he wasn't about to eat the crap Iason gave him.

Riki turned his head away. "I don't want it."

"You wanted me to cook it, so you _are_ going to eat every last bite," Iason hissed.

Riki looked at the smoldering waste Iason was holding. "Yea…no, I'm not. I'm not touching that nasty goopy crap. Not unless you want me to get sick and hurt the boy," Riki said grinning evilly. The one true thing he loved about his life going to shit was using the little parasite in him to torment Iason.

"You well eat it even if I have to force it down your throat!"

"Look here dick-" Gasping in pain, Riki fell sideways on the bed. Squeezing his eyes tightly closed Riki panted at the sudden pain the ripped through his leg.

Tray falling to the floor Iason rushed to Riki's side and pulled up his pant legs, quickly massaging the cramp that had his mongrel twisting in pain. "Better?" Iason whispered as Riki began to relax.

"No…. I want this over with. I'm slow, weak, and feel like I have a bladder the size of a pea," Riki grumbled tiredly.

Iason chuckled, pulling Riki's onto his lap. "Not much longer now…. We might even be able to get the child out of you sooner than the time Jupiter gave us."

"Why?" Riki demanded, looking up at Iason's expressionless face. "Is there something you're not telling me?" Disobeying the Queen was a major thing, and fuck if Raoul would take the brat out just because a couple mongrels were uncomfortable, no matter how much Iason might snarl at him.

There were times that Iason wished Riki were not so observant. "No, there isn't."

"Or there is and you're fucking keeping it from me because you don't want me to worry." But Riki didn't push the issue 'cause quiet frankly he didn't think he wanted to know. Not so long ago he would have fought to find out….but he was tired and didn't want to deal with anymore shit. "Fuck it," Riki muttered, "I'm tired."

Laying Riki back down, Iason grabbed the comforters that the mongrel threw to the floor and tucked it around the boy.

"Before you join me, get that crap you call food and take it out. The rancid stench is making me sick," Riki ordered.

The knuckles of Iason's tightly clenched fist cracked.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

Trying to keep the fact that he was pregnant was on the top of Katze's list while at the office. Even if it meant missing out on a lucrative job, Katze didn't care what it took. Busting heads. Snapping necks. If he needed to then he was more than capable of doing it himself to reinforce his authority. The only thing he could not have was the child being discovered and other's considering it a weakness, using this opportunity to try and over throw him. As if that could ever happen. They all knew him as the boss, not knowing that a Blondie was the true master of the Black Market and not just any Blondie but Iason Mink.

Not that Katze was expecting to get stabbed in the back at any moment. He worked with professionals, but there were a few that believed that if they took defaced him then they had a shot of taking command… again without the knowledge that Iason was the true Black Market boss.

So when the inevitable happened and the babe in him was discovered, Katze had been shocked at the outcome.

From the moment Katze had begun to feel the fetus kicking within him, he had started talking to it. Telling the babe everything he was doing, from hacking into a main frame of a potential client to see what kind of money they had in the bank so he'd know what he could demand from them, to crushing them to a pulp if they had any sinister plots hiding up their sleeves.

That habit had grown until he hadn't realized he even did it anymore, and he had also taken to rubbing his ever growing belly that he tried to hide with large clothing.

It was during one of those times that an employee had walked in on him, putting two and two together. Katze had expected ridicule, jokes and a shit storm of a rebellion. But what he got was….respect, and an even greater fear than he already had over the crew working under him, but he didn't understand why.

"Hey, boss?"

Preoccupied with his troubled thoughts, it took a few moments before Katze realized someone was calling for him.

"What?" Katze irritable said as he scratched his perturbing belly.

"So… the crew has a question on what you wanted to do with the unscheduled merchandise that is being unloaded at dock three."

Katze narrowed his eyes at Alex, his men's new liaison. No longer did they come up to the main office to ask him personally if they had a problem, liking to go to his second if they had any questions. "Tell me Alex… What do you make of all of this?" Katze patted his belly, where his son lay sleeping.

"Err…as in?"

"As in, answer the damn question." Another lovable thing Katze was beginning to learn to live with was his short temper. Gone were his indefinite patients of dealing with people.

"I'm not a native to Amoi, and before I settled here I traveled and lived on other worlds, many of which it were the males that carry their planets young, so seeing you like this isn't all together strange."

"Well, we aren't on a different planet, we're on Amoi where being male and pregnant is strange." Amazingly enough it was even considering all the morally wrong things that were created on their planet for entertainment. Katze jerked his head at the door. "What about them? What have you heard?"

Katze watched as Alex grinned, his red eyes twinkling in humor.

"Well, the boys always thought you were a freak because of how smart you were. When it was found out that a Tanagura Blondie chose you to be his pairing partner, that fear they had of you grew….than when they heard that Blondie also found a way for you to carry his seed and birth the first even known Elite to mix their pure bloodlines with a human….Let's just say that it shined a whole new light on what they feel about you."

Katze gave Alex a crocked smile. He could very well think of what the men now thought and basked a little in the terror that Raoul caused by his undisclosed mistake. Pity that the new control he now had over every single person in the Black Market was due to an accident and not by his making.

But he was not about to let such a gift pass him by. It would be foolish of him to allow this power to slip through his fingers, especially with the hard asses he worked with.

"Paving the way for you to take over," Katze chuckled as he rubbed his belly. He didn't know when he started to think of his job as inheritance, something that he could pass down to his son, but someone would need to do it, and while Riki was in the same situation he was in, it was clear that Iason's child would be the new ruler of Amoi and one day take control, he hoped that his son would take command over the Black Market.

The Underworld he ruled.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

_**Five weeks later**_

"What the fuck are you looking at? Well?" Riki glared at the Elites, with their pets in tow, as they passed by him and Katze at their outside table at a little restaurant in Tanagura.

"Calm down Riki. Wouldn't you stare if your leader's known _male_ paramour is expecting?" Kate could understand Riki's anger and embarrassment. Per doctor's orders or what Riki liked to call was Raoul and Iason's bitch fits, the both of them were outside soaking up the sun and eating a healthy meal without the smothering attentions of their Blondies hovering over or around them.

With, of course, an armed detail of maybe ten guards for the each of them….

Maybe, because it wasn't improbable that Iason did not have guards also hidden in the shadows, watching to protect Riki from any dangers that the twenty men already on alert to keep anyone, and everyone away, for some reason could not.

As for the stares and whispers, Katze was already use to it. But unlike him who could still come and go as he pleased, with the proper entourage, Riki hardly stepped out of the apartment without Iason at his side….but than again just looking at the fuming black haired mongrel Katze could understand why.

"It's been a few weeks since I've seen you Riki," Katze slowly said. "You're looking-"

"Fat," Riki said in a flat, no nonsense tone of voice, glaring at Katze. "I've gained eighty-five pounds since getting knocked up." Riki rested his drink on his overly large belly. "Raoul said the kid looks fine, healthy and his bone structure looks to be wholly Elite and given how much I eat it's only normal that I've gotten this blubbery."

Katze compared the size of his belly to Riki's. Large shirts aside he wasn't close to what Riki was… but he also had lots of exercise while Riki could only sit at home….and seventeen horrid weeks of puking his guts out.

"I've been wearing Iason's clothes and even his tent sized garments are starting to get tight." Riki rubbed his aching brow as he talked. "Kid keeps moving around at all hours and never seems to sleep. Just to get comfortable to try and crash I need four pillows under my legs and another four behind my back, but get this," Riki grinned. "Every time the kid wakes me up around three or four in the morning I yell at Iason to get up too, and make him cook me something to eat. I'm not hungry, hell, I can't fit anything in my gut with his brat using my stomach as a bed, but it's the only thing that makes me laugh. That and seeing the look on Cal's face every morning when I wake up and the mess Iason leaves behind when he makes me the burnt lumps of….whatever it is he tries to cook up."

Katze couldn't help but laugh with Riki, the kid had this way about him, but he could also hear the warning bells going off in his head at what Riki was saying. Iason undeniable affection for the mongrel allowed Riki to have certain immunity to a very large amount of the Blondie's rage…but from what Katze had been hearing it was the outside world that was paying for Riki's entertainment in tormenting the powerful leader.

"Riki-"

"Shad-up, like you haven't done something like that to Raoul," interrupted Riki, seeing that Katze was about to scold him.

Katze grunted. The mongrel was right, he has also awoken Raoul from his slumber, and while he may not have forced Raoul to cook for him, he did threaten the Elite with bodily harm if he didn't get the owner and the head chief to whip him up his favored dish from a favorite restaurant of his…

"You do realize that we won't be this way forever, don't you?" Katze had to ask. "The end of our confinements is drawing near. Iason will get his revenge," Katze stated.

"Yea, I know." Riki knew very well the chaos he was string up, and not just with Iason. "Tell me Katze…why did you continue with it?" Riki asked. "You could have evicted the half breed in you at any time. So why did you?"

Katze stared at the drink still resting on Riki's large stomach. "Curiosity at first, than I started thinking that if anything I would have something of myself that would carry on into the future, someone that would remember me," Katze answered truthfully. "And you? Are you interested in the kid?"

Riki looked around the lush outdoor greenery around their table, taking a moment to let the cool breeze caress his face before quietly speaking. "I didn't have the choice like you did. Iason's knows that I would have tried to get into a fight with hopes of…. Anyway that's why I'm not allowed to go anywhere without him or the goons that trail behind me…"

Katze snapped his fingers to capture Riki's attention, so he could look him in the eyes. "You didn't answer my question."

"I've been carrying the brat for fucking forever in me, how can I not be interested in it? But what the fuck am I going to tell him when he gets old enough to talk, and shit? What the hell will I say when he fucking asks me why I can't go outside or why the fuck do people call me a fucking pet?" Riki quietly raged to Katze.

"Tell them the truth," Katze said.

Riki laughed. "The truth? You want me to tell him that his Elite pops saw me on the street trying to pickpocket some chump and how Uncle Katze sold me to him? How Iason kidnapped my ass and made me into his personal fuck toy for the rest of my life?"

Katze winched.

"Yea, not something cute and fucking fuzzy that you'd wanna tell the kiddy," Riki said in agreement.

"The beginning of Iason and your relationship didn't start on the best of terms-"

"No shit," Riki huffed.

"_But_," Katze stressed, "Your ending isn't all that bad."

Riki lifted his brow and also his arm to point out the bracelet on his wrist, his new 'pet ring'. "Your right, my ending "isn't all that bad"," Riki said sarcastically. His collar might not be around his dick anymore but he still had one…Than again Katze was right. The moment he walked back to die with Iason he made his choice to be with the Blondie….maybe that's what he would tell the kid.

Fuck the past crap, although he would tell them that he fought and never let the bitches at Eos kick him down. He would tell them that he choose to stay with Iason. That it had been his choice to be a kept pet.

A shrill ring pierced the air.

Retrieving his cell phone from his pocket, Katze looked at the number flashing on the small screen and sighed. "What is it Alex?" Katze asked, answering the call.

Picking up the glass on his stomach, Riki took a drink as he watched Katze's expression harden. "Problems?" Riki asked once Katze ended his conversation, putting the glass back on his stomach. It was too much of a hassle to lean over to put it on the table.

"Yes. The account I've been working on has taken a nasty turn. The 'gentlemen' want to pay less for the merchandise only we can supply, saying that they found another supplier that is willing to sell it to them for cheaper."

Riki snickered. He may not know the specifics of Katze's new 'account' but he did know that if only they could supply the goods he was trying to sell than that meant one of two things. Someone from his crew had stolen some of it and was trying to sell it or the fuckers were trying to screw Katze over. Either way Riki knew Katze was going to get to the bottom of it and heads were going to roll, figuratively speaking, and depending on how pissed Katze got maybe even literally.

"Didn't Raoul 'ask' you to rest? I heard that he's been bitching about how you've refused to stop working, even as fat as you've gotten."

Katze glared at Riki. "I won't quit and Raoul needs to come to terms with it already. I gave up my caffeine and smoking. I'll never give over my position to some little shit, even for a moment, just to have them fuck everything up in my absence."

Riki held up his hands. "You don't need to argue your case to me, dude. If you couldn't handle it, you would have stepped down. In fact, I'm proud of the way you've put goldy locks in his place." Riki laughed when he remembered the beginning months of being infected with the little parasites. The humorous visits Katze and Raoul had made to his and Iason's apartment, and the war between them when Katze would request for coffee and try and sneak off to have a smoke.

For a man that lived off those two things and to have them taken away for the benefit of Raoul's science project, Riki knew it must have killed Katze to give it up.

"I haven't put him in his place. I've distracted him and his constant complaints with sex," Katze bluntly stated as he stood.

Riki grunted. He couldn't say the same since Iason and he hadn't gotten it on in only god knew how long now. His Blondie hadn't touched him after he had been admitted from their rough plan months ago.

"Hate to cut our lunch short but I need to get back to the office. I need to clear up this little problem before tonight." Katze paused as he looked at the large mongrel. "Ahh, do you need some help up?"

"Nah, I'm going to stay behind and enjoy the crowds," Riki said and he waved and flipped off a few spectators. "Been cooped up in the apartment too long so even if I feel like some animal in a exhibit being stared at, it still feels nice being out." Riki shooed Katze away. "Go do your thing."

Sighing as Katze left him, Riki stayed only long enough to finish his drink before he struggled to stand. Snapping at his guards that stepped forward to help him, Riki was panting by the time he got to his feet and began his waddle to the elevators and then smothered when all ten guards got in the lift with him.

The only enjoyment Riki had was telling them to fuck off once they deposited him to the top floor and his apartment door.

"Sir Riki! I was not expecting you to be back for another couple more hours!"

Slowly making his way into the living room Riki dropped down onto the sofa with a huge sigh of relief. Walking anywhere was a continuous battle, the weight of lugging the kid around was getting harder and harder. "Why?" Riki finally asked to the young Furniture.

"I need to do a few errands outside that I've been holding off for a while now…"

"I don't need a babysitter Cal," Riki huffed, kicking off his shoes and propping his feet onto the coffee table, the only time he really got to see his feet anymore.

"…."

"Go. It's not like I'll go into labor while you're gone. I don't plan on moving from this spot so don't worry." Riki was too tired from his walk to move, and from the painful hammering inside of him Riki could tell the kid was pissed about all the activity as well.

"Maybe I should call Master Iaso-"

"_Go_," Riki hissed. The last thing he wanted was Iason coming home early, not after he had kept him up since three in the morning making him cook for him over and over again because he had rejected everything he tried to serve him.

"Y-yes."

Riki watched as the Furniture scurried around the apartment before coming back to him, putting a phone next to his feet as well as a sheet of paper.

"Contact numbers should something happen while I'm away. I'll only be gone for an hour, but should you need me to come back-"

"Leave, Cal." Riki glared the boy out the door. Once the door closed Riki heaved himself up and made his way to the kitchen and proceeded to rummage through the refrigerator for something to eat and drink.

Placing the cold chicken and jug of juice on the counter Riki opened the cabinet and reached up for a glass when a sudden pain sliced though his body. Shouting out in pain, the glass in his hand fell to the floor, shattering. "What the fuck?" Riki rasped, grasping his stomach.

Another pain, stronger than before had Riki bending over, panting and moaning until it passed. Wiping the sweat from his brow Riki leaned back onto the counter. "Shit…" He didn't need to be told what was happening to him but what Riki couldn't understand is why it was happening to him now. The kid wasn't due to be ripped out for another four more weeks.

He needed to call Iason.

Taking a shaky step forward Riki shouted out when he stepped into the glass from the cup he had dropped and stumbled back, knocking the plate of food and beaker on the floor, adding to the shards already on the floor, mixing with the blood from the cut on his foot.

"Fuck," Riki panted sinking to the floor when he was slammed again with agony. The time between each pains were too close together. Raoul had prepared him for this day. Had told him what to expect, but it was too soon.

Gritting his teeth, Riki swept his hand across the floor, cutting his hand in numerous places as he tried to clear himself a path so he could get to the living room where the phone was, making it only half way before collapsing to his side.

"This kid has made me stupid," Riki half laughed, half groaned. With bloodied hands Riki pulled himself up and fumbled with the bracelet around his wrist. Searching until he found and pressed the small indentation on pet ring that would send a signal to Iason, sound an alarm that he was in trouble and needed him.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

Frowning Katze shifted uncomfortable in the backseat of the car. The seat was sending sharp little pains throughout his back.

"Sir Katze? Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine Julio," said Katze to the Furniture looking at him through the rear view mirror. He couldn't afford for the servant to call Raoul, not with this problem threatening to shatter months of work and hours he invested just because the clients were becoming greedy.

"Maybe we should call-"

"No," Katze firmly said, lifting his chin. "There is no need to call Raoul. I'm bound to be restless considering my condition. Continue driving Julio."

"Yes, Sir Katze…"

The pain was manageable and not something that could hold Katze back from doing his duty. He had a goal and hell if a little bit of pain would stop him from achieving it.

Unfortunately they got closer to his office, the more the dull pain began to grow until Katze had to force himself not to breath heavily or fidget in his seat to find a comfortable spot, to do nothing to alert the watching Furniture of his growing predicament. He kept himself as calm and composed as he possibly could once he realized that what he was feeling was the baby signaling his readiness to join the outside world.

"Not just yet child," Katze whispered. He just needed ten minutes. Fifteen minutes at the most to face the men and look them in the eye and tell them the deal stood as it were. Before leaving Riki he had made a few calls to Alex and a few others of his top employees. There was no other supplier. They either pay the agreed amount of they leave. End of story.

Enduring the physical pain, Katze let out a gasp and groaned low after Julio had stopped the car and stepped out of the vehicle, gripping his tightening stomach, thankful for the darkly tinted windows that gave him a bit of privacy in his moment of torment.

Once Julio opened the door Katze had just barely pulled himself together, setting his mask of calm in place, and even as his body protested he climbed out and strode to the doors that would lead him into the building. As another pain grabbed a hold of him Katze checked his wrist watch and frowned when he saw only a few minutes had passed since the last.

"Boss, I got them in the waiting room. They are getting pretty aggravated."

"Than let them. Do you have the file?" Katze asked as he continued to walking, proud that he was able to stay on his feet at all.

"Yup, got it right here with all the information you requested."

"What about-" Katze stumbled as a stronger pain shot through him. Coughing to cover his gasp Katze's glaze snapped behind him to look at Julio.

"S-sir Katze!"

"Alex, grab him and remove his cell phone. Detain him until I tell you it's alright to let him go," ordered Katze as he braced himself against the hallway wall.

"Boss…you don't look so good. Maybe we should call Sir Am and-"

"Not another word Alex!" Katze panted. "I can handle the pain. Just get me in the room so I can talk to the pricks and go home."

"Please sir! Master Raoul is presently at Jupiter Tower. It would take him at least five minutes or so to get here, more than enough time for you to have your meeting."

"Fine," Katze said as he tried to catch his breath. He had thought that he would have enough time to sit with his flaky clients, but as quickly as the contractions were coming along he had only enough time to expose their bluff and give them an ultimatum. Take the deal or take a hike.

"Call Raoul and get him over here." Straightening once the pain faded, Katze couldn't deny the fact that he couldn't ignore what was coming, not if he didn't want to seriously harm the child or himself.

"Alex, I have exactly three minutes before the pain comes again. You'll come in with me, time me. No matter what you take me out of that room once those three minutes are up. It won't do if they see me weakened in any way." Katze licked his dry lips. "Let's get this over with."

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

Seated at the head of the long table in the largest of conference rooms in Jupiter Tower, Iason watched with a bored expression as one of the ministers from one of the many worlds that was also in attendance babble on about the immorality on Amoi.

Iason had to chuckle at the hypocrisy that he was hearing. Here these men were preaching while they also had plans to seek out said 'sins of the pedaled flesh' in the red light district of Midas. What was even more hilarious was that he was listening to them. Riki would also enjoy hearing about this.

A gentle smile spread across Iason's face thinking about his lover. The mongrel was taking his wicked enjoyment of testing his culinary skills to its maximum. In the beginning it was annoying, but as the nights went on Iason began to take pleasure in trying to create something that Riki would eat. A new sense of accomplishment he had long ago thought he would never feel again.

Unknowing to Riki, in a few days he was scheduled with Raoul to have a Caesarean section. They waited as long as they could, and while Iason wanted his and Riki's child to survive, he was more concerned of Riki's welfare.

"Your Excellency?"

Focusing his attention to the matter at hand, and the pinched face representative, Iason opened his mouth to begin his speech when a shrill alarm from the band around his wrist sounded, freezing the words in his throat.

Riki.

Standing quickly Iason made his way to the exit.

"Sir Mink! This meeting is not over yet! We still have-"

"Silence!" Iason coldly replied to the overly demanding minister as he debated the complications that would arise if he threw the obese man out the window for stupidly stepping in front of him, blocking his way from leaving.

"This is an outrage! If you walk out now it only proves that the Amoi government cares nothing of our treaty! I demand an explanation! I'm also warning you that if I don't like your-"

Iason grabbed the large sweaty man by the throat and lifted him a few feet off the ground. "Get out of my way," Iason hissed.

The room erupted in chaos as the neighboring government officials began to shout out their offence in the treatment of one of their own. Shouts that were silenced in seconds when a bright shining light manifested in the middle of the room, and the unmistakable form that had been only whispered about presented its self to them.

Carelessly tossing the man to the side, Iason bowed his head in respect. "Jupiter."

"He is in need, my child. Go to him now. I will stand in your place here."

Iason's lips twisted cruelly. "As you command, Jupiter," Iason said, looking at all the shocked and panicked pale faces around the room before swiftly making his exit.

Outside Iason gave a silent thanks to Jupiter when he saw a vehicle was already waiting for him and not just that, but the roads had been cleared of traffic for him in the form of Tanagura security holding people back.

Getting behind the wheel, Iason sped to Eos.

With the roads cleared it took only a few minutes to reach Eos and just like the roads the lobby was cleared of Elites and pets. Racing his way to the elevators Iason paced in the confined quarters until the metal doors opened.

Stepping in the apartment Iason shouted for Riki, nearly tearing the apartment apart until he found his lover leaning up against the doorframe leading to the kitchen. His mongrel lay on his side, a trail of blood behind him. In a flash Iason was next to Riki picking him up in his arms and flinching when his lover let out a long, low, moan of pain.

"Took you long…long enough to fucking get here." Riki softly called out, his body hunching over in agony.

Iason smile. "Traffic." Holding Riki to his chest with one arm, Iason took out his cell phone and called Raoul as he made his way to the door. When he received no answer Iason called the hospital to prepare for Riki's arrival.

"Still think this was a good idea?" Riki licked is dry lips.

"Who wouldn't want a memento from their loved one?" Iason calmly said, worried by the paleness of Riki's sweat damped face and shallow breathing.

"Something….to remember me by?" Riki gave a sad little smile. "It fucking hurts, more than the time when Guy-" Riki cut off when a sharper pain then he had felt since his suffering started. "T-that didn't feel right," Riki panted as he fisted Iason's satin shirt in his clammy fists.

Back in the elevator, Iason tried again to call Raoul…and again met with no success.

"Shit, how the hell can females do this? You know…once I had envied chicks… I thought they had the winning hand being born a woman… but not anymore," Riki laughed, laying his head on Iason's shoulder.

"There is nothing to fear Riki," Iason said, hugging Riki as tightly as he could without hurting him or adding to his discomfort. "In a few more minutes you will be fine."

Riki grit his teeth as more pain ripped through him. "I'm tired," Riki gasped once the pain faded, his head falling back limply.

"You can rest after the child is born, you just need to hold on a while longer," Iason firmly said, his words more like an order than that of encouragement.

"Prick…" weakly chuckled Riki.

Iason and Riki's conversation of affectionately passing back and forth of insults lasted until the doors to the elevator opened and medical personnel were waiting with a gurney to take rush Riki to the Hospital that was connected to Eos.

Riki locked eyes with Iason, never letting go of those light blue eyes until men with white coats stopped the Blondie and he was taken to another room where he was lifted onto another bed. With the amount of pain that was pouring into his body Riki still hissed and snapped at the med tech that stabbed him with a needle, yelling that the jackass until the fool ran out and the drugs that he had been injected with took affect.

Iason couldn't help but laugh, even with the seriousness of what was going on, when he heard Riki's rising voice. Using that spark that had the little Midas nurse running out of the operating room to comfort him, and convince himself that all would be well.

His calls to Raoul were still going unanswered. The medical staff had been trained for the coming births of Riki and Katze but if there were any complications Iason wanted Raoul to be with Riki, to work his magic like he had done to the both of them when they had nearly died at Dana Bahn.

Iason wasn't sure how long he had been standing, but it felt like forever when one of the doctors came out. The grim and almost apologetic expression on the man's face felt like someone had reached in his chest and took his heart in their hands, squeezing painfully…but it was the words that came out of the doctor's mouth that broke him. Ripped his world apart.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

Kicking the doors open to the visitors room Katze had been reported to be in, Raoul cursed when he saw his stubborn red-head seated on a sofa with his Furniture behind him wringing his hands, as well as Katze's second in command.

"How far along are the pains?" Raoul demanded as he rushed to Katze's side, throwing his coat down on the sofa.

"I barely have time to catch my breath before it starts again," Katze panted.

"This isn't good…" Raoul whispered, cupping Katze's face with his hands . "There isn't time to take you back to the hospital. Damn it, Katze, you should have contacted me immediately!"

"I had a job to do." Katze hissed, arching his back in pain.

"No job is worth your life!" Raoul shouted as he picked his lover up in his arms.

"Down stairs," Katze gasped. "Down stairs we have an operating room and Alex can help you. He's received training just incase we have an emergency that can't be reported to a hospital."

"It can't be helped." Ordering Alex to lead the way Raoul snapped out commands to Julio to grab his bag, and ignored the ringing from his cell phone that was in his coat pocket. Nearly running Raoul watched as more than a dozen men dropped what they were doing to come rushing forward asking if he needed any help.

As much as Raoul wanted to refuse his hands were tied, he needed all the help he was going to get, so while they made their way down to the basement Raoul shouted out the list of supplies he needed and ordered anyone in the crowd follow him if they had any kind of medical training.

"Stay with me Katze," Raoul begged into his lover's pain filled face, and thankfully they reached their destination in no time. Placing Katze on the operating table, smoothing dampened red locks from a pale forehead, Raoul kissed Katze tenderly before instructing Julio to remove all of Katze's clothing and cover him with O.R. bed sheets and dress him in a hospital gown that he spied on one of the metal tables in the corner.

To the three men that had followed him, Raoul ordered them to change their filthy clothing and begin scrubbing up while he began pulling bags of sterilized instruments out of drawers, and sighed in relief when he found everything he needed. Turning to the adjoined doors that lead to the wash room, Raoul stripped, dressed in scrubs and began to scrub his hands all the way up to his elbows.

"Master Am. Mister Alex has started a drip and has administered the drug, putting Sir Katze to sleep for the operation."

"Thank you, Julio," Raoul said tonelessly as he prepared himself to cut into the man he loved.

Walking out into the cold and stark room, Raoul nodded to the men, who in just a short time had bathed and dressed themselves appropriately. Steeling himself he moved towards Katze's still body. "Julio, have you called the hospital to come here?"

"I have Master Am…but at the moment they are not able to. There seems to be a road block and they are not able to get by it."

Raoul grimly nodded then looked to Alex who was his acting anesthesiologist.

"Everything is good to go here."

Bending his knees slightly to allow Julio to tie his hair back, Raoul whispered a silent prayer to Jupiter before gloving up and covering his mate's large belly with iodine.

"I have everything prepared for the child's birth, Master Raoul,"

"Thank you, Julio," Came Raoul's muffled response from behind his surgical mask as he picked up a scalpel. With a steady hand Raoul cut into Katze, working quickly with the others to bring his son out into the world and steam the flow of blood that poured out of his love.

Hearing the new born, threatened Raoul's concentration so he blocked the joyful cry from his mind, handing the babe to his Furniture who wrapped the child in heated blankets and took him away. What Raoul found inside of Katze was amazing in how the drug had created a womb, changing the inside of the mongrel with the sole purpose of holding the child.

But now that the child was born it held no purpose, and could even become deadly if let in Katze so Raoul removed it and anything that did not belong.

One long hour it took before Raoul stitched his last suture and smiled. "All done," Raoul whispered, leaning down to kiss Katze on the forehead, then proceeded to gently clean Katze's body, making sure he was clean and in a fresh gown and on his way to the recovery room before walking towards the cry of his child.

But what Raoul saw made him frown. In the made shift bed, the baby Raoul saw that should have been born seven weeks premature but what was before his eyes was a new born at full term. Confused Raoul reached his trembling hand out and gingerly touched the child's golden crown, giving a shaky chuckle when the babe bellowed.

"I see again that I miscalculated," Raoul softly whispered so not to upset the child again. "I used the gestation of that of a normal human child and did not take into account our Elite enhancements that would accelerate-" the words froze on Raoul's lips. If Katze went into labor than…

"Riki!"

Panicked Raoul just then remembered the constant phone calls he had ignored, thinking they were from his colleges wanting to know why he had just up and left while they were in an important meeting. Looking over at his Furniture that hovered close by Raoul motioned to the baby, "Take the child to Katze guard both of them with your life," he commanded as he turned as ran for the doors, praying that he was not too late.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

_**Three years later**_

Entering his apartment silently Katze slipped his slim form pass Julio, holding a finger up to his lips when the young Furniture opened his mouth to call out in greeting to him. Walking silently into the living room Katze spied Raoul seated on the sofa reading, but it was the small form on the floor with his back facing him that lightened his heart.

Sneaking up behind the small boy Katze whispered, "Hello young master."

"Daddy!"

Katze laughed was his son stood and ran into his arms. "How are you doing today?"

"Fine!"

"You're still in trouble young man," Raoul firmly said as he put his book down on the sofa, and stood with his hands on his hips.

"Father…"

"Why?" Katze smiled, picking the boy up so he could give him a hug.

Raoul 'tsked' as he shook his head. "It seems that our young dissected a toad on the dinning room table and then proceeded to try and sell its organs online."

Katze laughed. "Seems like he is taking after the both of us equally," Katze said as he smiled loving into matching golden eyes surrounded by a halo of honey locks. "I'm sure your father can agree that you should not be in trouble, unless your one man operation on the amphibian was anything less then perfect?"

"He is a Blondie, and my son, all his incisions were beyond reproach," Raoul arrogantly said.

"Ahh, than it was your hacking skills?" Katze pretended to act disappointed.

"NO!...well…I wouldn't have gotten caught if it wasn't for Minks! Koa somehow found out what I had been doing and blackmailed me into splitting the money-"

"Splitting the money! Kowin!" Raoul shouted, outraged. He couldn't believe how the sweet child in front of him, the babe that he held in his arms, walked up and down the halls when the poor infant couldn't sleep was the same child before him now. Before the babe could walk his curiosity had been seemingly endless and more often then not lead to him apologizing to many of his Elite brethren for the innocent, but malicious viruses the babe had somehow down loaded into the network. Although considering his son's other sire, and his most beloved lover, it didn't shouldn't have surprised him.

"Oops…"

Katze laughed, holding his most prod possession high up on his chest. "Looks like I need to train you a little better than I have been."

"Katze! This isn't a laughing matter!" Raoul sighed, it didn't matter what he said to Katze. His mate would never say anything to their son in a disciplinary way. Leaving those unpleasantness for him to deal with.

"You're right," Katze said sternly, "Kowin, how much money have you accumulated by selling these frog parts?"

"…."

"Don't worry about your father," said Katze calmly, giving the boy an assuring squeeze.

"….I wasn't making much…maybe a couple hundred in the beginning-"

"A couple hundred!" Raoul sputtered.

"Let him finish Raoul." Katze frowned, shaking his head at the aspirated Blondie.

"Umm…but then Minks found out and got involved…we now make a gross income of five."

"Well five hundred, that's not bad-"

"Thousand….each… in total I now have, just a little, over fifty thousand in my piggy bank…. I need a bigger piggy bank too, it can't hold anymore…"

Katze blinked and slowly a smile formed on his lips until it bloomed into a large, proud, grin. "Well done."

"Katze!" Raoul held a hand to his forehead.

Katze continued to grin. "Raoul look at the situation. Our son, our _three_ year old son, is marking his mark in the world already."

"Illegally! He's using the surgical skills he been taught and using it for illegal means! And-" Raoul snapped his mouth shut. There was nothing he could say, not to Katze, not to his lover who was the essentially the boss of Amoi's Black Market, where the word illegal was shrugged off as if it was nothing.

"You're overreacting Raoul." Katze smiled down at his son, who gave him a shinning grin back. "This is a good thing, but we will need to up your lessons so that you won't get caught again."

"Really!"

"Yes, really," Katze laughed, then after giving his son a kiss on the forehead, Katze handed the boy to the waiting Furniture who happily took Kowin into his arms. "Be good for Julio and take a bath," Katze called out as the two left the room.

"You can't seriously be that angry," Katze chuckled, walking up to Raoul and slipping his arms around the Blondie.

"Can't I be?" Raoul said, tilting his red-head's chin up so he could lean down to taste his sweet lips. "You spoil the boy. I'm sure Iason is more angered than I am when I told him."

Katze sighed and pulled away from Raoul's strong arms. "How is Iason? I meant to go to the penthouse but it's been very busy at the office…. It must be hard without Riki…"

"….He's got his hands full, to be sure, but he's taking it one day at a time. That's all he can do." Raoul hugged Katze to his chest, never wanting to let him go.

**~***_**N.B**_***~**

With his fingers interlaced, Iason stared into identical ice blue eyes from across of him. The apartment was silent with only the soft hum of the central air as it blew cool air into the room.

Iason leaned back and crossed his legs, actions that were immediately imitated across from him.

Every facial expression, or lack of, every movement, was copied. Much to Iason's irritation, and even that was mimicked perfectly. Since Raoul's call Iason had quickly found the little side business of his and Raoul's sons, so that nothing could be lead back to their children. Iason still could not believe the stupidity of people, buying intestines of such disgusting creatures.

What Iason really wanted was Riki…

"Do you realize that because of your foolish operation, I had to leave an important meeting today?" Iason coldly said, narrowing his glacier eyes…and once again those ice blue eyes narrowed as his did, those eyes that were the same as his Riki's, with its exotic upward tilt…even the fire was in there, the open defiance.

"One month. No computer, no trips to the Botanical with Cal, no leaving the apartment at all." The only reaction Iason got was mocking pale brows lifting, but other then that there was only silence.

"Damn Iason cut um' some slack would ya? It can't be all that bad."

"_Riki_!"

Throwing his coat to the side Riki grinned and caught the two little bodies that flew at him, pretending to fall when they jumped into his arms. "Whoa, there! Damn you guys are getting heavy!"

"You're late Riki," Iason growled as he stood.

"Ahh, come on. Orphe has been riding my ass about the new training lessons I put together for his new recruits. I'm only a couple hours passed my curfew." Riki offhandedly said, his attention on his two boys than the annoyed Blondie glaring daggers at him.

"Orphe and I need to have a little talk," Iason muttered, but he couldn't help but smile at the happy faces and laughter that filled the room.

"No you're not. It's only for a few more weeks Iason and then I'll be going back to my normal working schedule." Riki grinned. Tonight had actually been his last late night at the training center but he loved seeing Iason flustered. The powerful Blondie was all thumbs when it came to their boys and it tickled him endlessly.

"Where's Cal?" Riki asked as he carried his twin boys and flopped down on the sofa with them. Twins that Iason and Raoul had hid from him when he had been burdened with the two brats, his 'complication' that the madding Blondie had failed to tell him about….that was also understandable as Riki remembered how he was at the time.

"Talon and Koa ran Cal ragged, so I dismissed him for the night to allow him to rest," Iason said, raising his voice to be heard above the chattering of the children as they told Riki all about their day. "Have you already eaten?"

"Yeah. Orphe had to treat me to a meal when he saw how much his men improved in their fighting skills. I told the prick it was a stupid idea to bet with me but…" Riki shrugged. "You Blondies hate to lose."

"Uncle Orphe lost?"

Iason sighed at one of his twin's question. Riki had introduced the boys to Sir Orphe as uncle and the children never stopped calling the Blondie Chief of Security that, although Iason secretly thought that Orphe only pretended to be offended by the overly familiar title.

"Not only did _uncle_ Orphe lose, but he also had to publicly acknowledge me give me full credit for all I've done." Riki looked up to Iason and winked.

Chuckling Iason shook his head at his scandalous lover. Riki's involvement in the improvement of Eos's security had changed once the boys were born. Before it was all about taking his frustration and anger out on men he considered his enemy, but now making sure Eos was the impenetrable palace it was rumored to the outside world to be. Taking no chances, not when he had their sons sleeping in the very place he once hated.

Iason smiled as he looked at his family.

"So what is this crap about the boys being under house arrest?" Riki yawned.

Good humor extinguished, Iason scowled. "Raoul called and informed me that our sons set up a lucrative little enterprise for themselves. Upon discovery of their illegal dealings Talon and Koa withdrew from the corporate world, closing their site and accounts while Raoul's son planted a virus programmed to viscously infect anyone's computer or network that attempts to track them."

Riki whistled low. "Nice."

Iason glared at the two boys who glared back at him. "No, it wasn't nice it was sloppy. I had to go in and clean up their mess."

Riki set the twins to the side of him, holding back his smile when he looked at the miniature faces of Iason that looked up at him with the same serious expressions on their faces. "I told the both of you that you needed to be careful, didn't I? I said that Kowin needed a better place than his kitchen table or else you'd get busted."

"You knew about this!" Iason hissed.

Riki blinked up at Iason. "Well…yea. How do you think they got the frogs? The walks I take the kids on were to the ponds. That's were they got their inventory. Anyway, whatever. I'm beat and I just wanna take a bath and go to sleep. Come on my two little Minks," Riki laughed, winking wickedly at Iason as he lead their sons away.

An hour later Iason found Riki in bed ….and he wasn't alone. Gashing his teeth together Iason glared at the two bodies wrapped around his mate's.

"I told them they could sleep with us tonight," Riki whispered, hugging the boys to his side. "The little termites told me that when they grew up they were going to marry me," Riki laughed at Iason's outraged expression.

Iason wasn't laughing though. Even at three years of age Iason could already see he was going to have a problem with the children, a problem he was in war with already, a fight to see who could get the most of Riki's attention.

To think that it was his children that were his rivals….

"Riki-" Iason sighed when he saw that the mongrel was already fast asleep but it was the smug little smiles on little faces and little arms that tightened around Riki's neck, that heated Iason's temper.

Massaging his brow, Iason stepped out of the bedroom and made his way to his office. He still had work to do and it would help him clear his mind and the problem that was forming in his home. It was a given that his sons would love Riki, he couldn't blame them, but their need to always be by Riki's side was putting a hamper on their love life.

There was also the fact that the children seemed to hate him because Riki loved to be with him and show him affection…. Very soon he would have to start teaching them that they could not rest in his and Riki's bed. It was near impossible to get his mongrel alone anymore and he wanted-need to hold Riki in his arms.

Lifting his head at the sound of the door to his office opening, Iason stood when he saw Talon and Koa peeking sleepily up at his from the doorway.

Pushing his chair out Iason beckoned the boy's closer and picked them both up when they simultaneously raised their arms up. Hugging their small, warm, forms, Iason stood and swayed.

"We love you daddy…"

Iason closed his eyes in happiness.

"I love you too my little Minks."

**The End **


End file.
